Dunbans sacrifice
by LostHighwayEscapee
Summary: Not even fate itself will stop him from protecting those dearest to him...Alternate Xenoblade plotline. Events diverge at the end of the colony 9 assault. Indirect spoilers on account of different plot progression. I would recomend finishing the game before reading just in case.


Xenoblade – Dunbans Sacrifice

* * *

An alternate Xenoblade storyline. Events diverge from the original plot at the end of the colony 9 assault, during the closing stages of the battle with Metal Face.

I recomend completing, or at least getting to a seven character party in Xenoblade before reading this as there are some indirect spoilers, and certain key events and revelations occur earlier than they do in the game.

"" = spoken, ("") = thoughts, Italics = whispered/subliminal, Bold = Loud/Overwhelming

* * *

Metal face was about to carve up all three of them…then Fiora charged him. She must have already known what was going to happen. Even the air defence batteries hadn't marked that monster, so the mobile artillery had no chance. That shout was of absolute determination though…and it wasn't to destroy that thing…it was to save them.

Dunban's at his limit; using the Monado again was always going to be a dangerous gamble, and he's paying heavily. It's paid off to an extent, having discovered Shulk can use it, but he's still green when it comes to battle. Metal face has already pushed all three of them to the brink. Shulk's just about on his knees, his screams of despair make it pretty clear he knows what's coming. Dunban can taste blood in his mouth and feels like he's back at sword valley, and he can see Reyn's barely standing, already given his all against their foe. Then he notices Shulk's screams are not for them…they're for Fiora. He remembers why he was willing to face down an entire mechon army that day. It wasn't for glory, it was to protect those dear to him, and if he doesn't act now his dearest little sister is going to be murdered right in front of him.

"This isn't over…just one more time."

Dunban forces himself to rise and charges towards metal face. It's throwing the mobile artillery around like a rag doll now. He reaches it in time to leap onto the hull and block a claw aimed directly at Fiora. He looks into the things eyes and gets a surprise…a look of recognition. He thinks to himself "Good, now I've got your attention".

Metal face turns its attentions to Dunban. Its strikes are brutal, sending waves of pain through his body, but he's able to parry them. He calls to Shulk and Reyn.

"I've got this…save Fiora!"

Shulk and Reyn rush to her and fend off the approaching mechon. Suddenly they hear a sickening snap. Metal face has landed a direct strike on Dunban. He's blocked the attack, but his arm has broken under the strain. Metal face turns its attention back to them. Dunban manages to give one last message before the mechon descend on him.

"Don't worry about me…you have to protect Fiora now…"

Dunban vanishes under them, defenceless with two crippled arms. Metal face takes a swipe at Shulk but he dodges. Enraged at what's happened, Shulk runs up its arm, and then stabs it through the head with the Monado. Now damaged, Metal face flees, followed closely by the other mechon.

"Shulk…Fiora, she's alive…help me get her out of here"

"You did it Dunban…you saved her…"

The two of them free Fiora from the wreckage. She's bruised and concussed but has no serious injuries. They carry her back towards Dunban's house, remembering there's a first aid stash there. On the way they catch sight of Dunban's sword…the only thing left of him. Fiora lets out a cry of absolute despair, and Shulk and Reyn struggle to hold their composure. They manage to get her back to house and do their best to treat her. She's utterly distraught and through her tears manages to voice her regrets

"I'm sorry Dunban…you always warned me not to be so rash…and now you paid the price…"

"No Fiora, it's not your fault; we were about to be killed by that thing. If you hadn't charged in we'd all be dead. You saved us back there, Dunban would be very proud of you now."

A teary eyed Shulk and Reyn both hug Fiora, doing their best to comfort her.

"Please could you two spend the night here? This house…it's going to be unbearable to be alone here…please"

Shulk and Reyn both spend the night. The next day she's already able to stand, but clearly still pretty beat up. Reyn checks in with the defence force to find it's in disarray with Dunban gone and Vangarre in intensive care. Kantz has had to assume command at ground level, but morale is extremely low and he isn't really giving any productive orders. If another attack comes the defence force will be utterly ineffective. He heads back to inform Shulk and Fiora of the situation.

"Things are not good at the fortress. We lost about half the force to the mechon; the better half by the looks of things. Most of what I can see there are green troops and cadets milling around aimlessly"

"How's the mood around town?"

"About as down as you'd expect…pretty much everyone knows poor Dunban was cut down by that Metal faced freak and half the people are hiding under their beds now".

"Why didn't the Monado work on it?"

"You did manage to do it some damage, and that means there's a way"

"I don't think we're going to find it sitting around here either. As soon as I'm recovered we should head out. Dunban gave everything he had for us, he deserves to be avenged, and if we can bring back that bastards head a lot more people are gonna sleep soundly at night…including me".

"You know something Fiora, I don't think we're gonna get a better plan than that. What ya reckon then Shulk?"

"I'm not gonna argue with that; soon as you're recovered we take the Monado and hunt that slag heap down."

A few more days pass while Fiora recovers. Shulk and Reyn stay with her throughout as even just their presence seems to bring her some comfort. With her recovery complete they decide its time to set out. Things aren't getting any better with the defence force though. As they go to collect the monado they are confronted by Kantz.

"What do you think you're doing? The Monado stays put"

"Actually we need it…"

"For what? Morale's as low as it can get and removing the Monado is not going to help."

"No offence, but it's not like anyone can use it except…"

"We'll be starting trials in the next few days; until then it stays right here"

"I think you'll find I can already use it just fine. It works for me now"

"I didn't exactly see you saving the day while the mechon slaughtered half the force."

"And I didn't see you at all…and I was in the thick of it. Commanding from the desk again?"

"Right, I've had just about enough of this insubordinate back talk Reyn. Just because Vangarre's out of action doesn't mean you're getting away with it, and Dunban's not here to bail your sorry arse out either. You're on punishment duty, and you can forget loitering around with Shulk, I'm transferring you to…"

Kantz is cut short when Fiora punches him in the face. Her hand moves so fast nobody can see it. He crumples into a heap on the floor, out cold. This doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the defence force.

"Dunban always said the punch that knocks you out is the one you don't even see. Nice to see he was right on that one."

"Alright…lets get the Monado and run like hell, I don't think we're gonna get away with this."

"You worry too much Reyn. It's not like they can make a charge of striking a superior officer, I never did join the defence force you know."

"Don't worry about it kids, you go and do what you've got to do."

"Dickson! Good to see you."

"I overheard your little argument…since you can use the Monado now it might was well stay in your hands, all it's gonna do staying here is send every poor sod who tries their luck with it to the doctors. I'll smooth things over with the brass for you, so don't worry about coming back when you need to."

"Cheers Dickson, that's a major relief"

The three of them collect the monado and set out for Tephra cave. Shortly after they encounter the dead trade party.

"What happened here? These injuries don't look like the sort inflicted by mechon either."

"Rough way to go, we'd better return them to the Bionis."

The three of them return the bodies.

"…at least they're at peace now…hope that's the last time we have to do that"

"We need to keep our eyes open, they were armed traders. Whatever managed to do this is something we don't want to tangle with"

"I've got that feeling of unease…"

"….yeah, you do get them in Tephra cave. I don't see any webbing here though. Might be a good place to get a little rest"

"Shulk, Reyn…I'll take first watch. Still got a lot on my mind so I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a bit"

"Thanks Fiora…if you want to talk about it…"

"Maybe later, you two get some shut eye"

Shulk and Reyn try to get some sleep. Shulk is awoken when the Monado activates and gives him a vision of Reyn being killed by the arachno queen.

"Arrrgh! Reyn, NO!"

"Shulk! It's okay…You were having a nightmare"

"Huff…huff…damn…that seemed so real…"

"You okay Shulk?...you don't look to good…"

Shulk notices the Monado is active.

"Oh no, that wasn't a dream…"

The three of them are ambushed by spiders

"Just as well we're all awake now, lets take em down!"

"Urgh, I can't stand these things…"

"This isn't good, it's happening again…"

"Okay, we've got them…Shulk, what's the matter, you're looking even worse…"

"We have to get out of here, fast"

"I'm with you there; If you two hadn't been with me I'd already be running by now"

"It'll be faster to go on than go back"

"Right lets go…the sooner we're out the better…aargh!"

Reyn is caught by a stray webbing strand and pulled into the room above.

"Reyn!"

"This way…I can hear him above us"

The two of them spot him on the ledge above the lake

"Reyn! Come back, it's not safe over there!"

"Get off me! Why'd it have to be bloody spiders!..."

The two of them catch up with Reyn at the arachno queens lair

"Reyn, please, get out of there now! it's just like the vision…"

"Shulk…oh no…we have to move!"

Fiora spots the Arachno queen moving into position before Reyn. Shulk then sees it too. Fiora charges towards Reyn and tackles him, knocking him out of the way of the arachno queens strike. The arachno queen rears up to stab down on them and Reyn tries to shield Fiora. Shulk charges in desperation with the Monado drawn, and at the last moment manages to summon a shield, allowing Reyn to block the strike.

"Reyn, Fiora…you're okay!"

"A bit early for celebrations…look out!"

Reyn intercepts and blocks a strike aimed at Shulk

"Reyn…Shulk…lets go, we can take them…"

The three of them manage to defeat the arachno queen and destroy the nest.

"Good work on finding a new trick with the Monado, but your timing needs some work; that was way to close for comfort".

"So what was in that vision? You looked seriously spooked."

"It was a vision of Reyn being killed…but we stopped it"

"You think it was a vision of the future?"

"Yes, it must have been; it was just like back at colony 9…I had a vision of Fiora being killed by Metal Face"

"Now I understand all that screaming, you'd realised by that point Fiora was…"

"But that didn't happen! Dunban…he…."

"He changed the future; he must've realised from Shulk's screams you were in danger…"

"I'm so sorry Fiora…If I'd realised back then maybe…"

"It's okay Shulk, You had no way of knowing until it was too late...but next time you have any of these visions please tell us!"

"Sorry…"

"Listen Shulk, we trust you. If anything like this starts happening again make sure we know about it and that way we can help you; it's going to be easier to change the future with all of us acting together."

"Thank you...I'll make sure you know if anything like that happens again"

"And…don't either of you feel like what happened to Dunban was in any way your fault. I remember hearing him telling you to protect me…he'd be proud of the two of you as well…you honoured his last request"

"Not yet; there's a certain mechon we need to take to the breakers yard, and were gonna make damn sure you get to see justice served."

The three of them leave the cave and emerge onto Bionis knee, where the sight of Mechonis greets them.

"So that's Mechonis, I wonder what's really happening over there."

"We might get to find out, there's no saying how far this journey will take us…I thought after all that'd happened the sight of Mechonis would've made me angry, but it's beautiful…and strangely sad..."

Shulk goes to say something but stops himself.

"…despite everything that's happened I think I'm going to enjoy traveling with you two. I used to love listening to Dickson's tales of his travels. I think that's why my dream in life now is to become an adventurer. I never wanted to travel alone though, I think that was stopping me before."

"Wherever this journey takes us we'll be with you Fiora, you can count on that."

"I think this'll do us good anyway. After what's happened I know one thing for certain. I need to become stronger for what's ahead, and that simply isn't gonna happen doing the same daily grind back at the colony."

"I'll have to agree with you there Reyn. Thinking about it the monado research had more or less hit a brick wall. Perhaps the answers are going to lie on our travels rather than in that lab."

"Nice to see you guys are looking on the bright side now."

"We've got your sunny demeanour to thank for that…by the way, you might want to get some rest…you didn't get any back in the cave."

"Well…okay. Nice spot to take a breather anyway."

Fiora ends up drifting off to sleep rather quickly. Shulk and Reyn chat for a while.

"I hope she's alright…these last few days must have been awful."

"She's got that same strength that Dunban had. She must be in pieces inside after everything that's happened, but she was still trying to cheer us up back there."

"Thinking about it puts things in perspective. It's never occurred to me that the three of us would ever be separated; we've spent just about our whole lives together. So much so, I think we might have taken each other for granted. Now I realise just how close we came…if it hadn't been for Dunban we'd have lost her. I've had my head buried in monado research this last year, and now that I actually think about she's gone out of her way to be kind to me, even with everything else she was dealing with."

"Let's not make that mistake any more…and looking on the bright side we'll be seeing plenty of each other so we'll have plenty of opportunities to make sure we make each other feel appreciated. By the way, you stopped yourself saying something earlier; you wouldn't mind telling me what it was?"

"Mechonis…it's got the same atmosphere as Dunban's house did when I looked back at it as we left. Maybe it's just me, but it looks like it's waiting for someone to come to home."

"Still find it hard to believe he's gone."

"…He's with us in spirit. He showed us what we needed to become, and now it's time for us to live up that example."

* * *

Meanwhile somewhere on Bionis a discussion unfolds.

"It seems most of the outcome is as expected, he's on his way now."

"It's disrupted things enough though. We don't have a cohesive vision of the future at the moment, and his state of mind isn't as weakened as we'd have liked."

"It should still be sufficient."

"We need certainties, not probabilities. She's outside of fate now; she has the potential to derail the expected events."

"It wasn't by her hand that she defied fate…I doubt she'll be as much of a problem as you expect."

"I suppose we still have the means to remove her if it looks like she'll become a problem anyway."

"We'll wait. Once our vision of the future becomes clear again we can commit to a course of action. It doesn't look like we'll have any problems in the meantime anyway, he still has the same motivation and in essence the same reason we expected so the meeting should still occur."


End file.
